I always have to think about the etymology of the terms ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’ when I see a home garden. The home garden is a highly diversified environment within a farm where crops used in the kitchen are grown in association with others. Soils of the home gardens are often more fertile than the surrounding fields of the farm, and its structure, biological diversity, organic matter and nutrient contents have often been ‘upgraded’ through years of care and proper management, even in areas where soils are inherently poor. Home gardens are often the only green spot on the farm in dry years.

In most cultures, the home gardens are women’s territory. They contribute enormously to food security and nutrition through the diversification of diets, producing food even outside of the growing season, and producing ‘forgotten’ traditional crops. Home gardens are also crucial to secure food and livelihoods for older women. In both monogamous and polygamous families of East Africa every wife owns a home garden. It is often the only thing she will inherit once her husband dies and her children move away or take over the farm. From this perspective, there is no doubt that the investment in building up soil fertility pays off in the long term.

A study done in two ethnically different villages in western Kenya by one of my former students shows how local vegetables that are often regarded as ‘weeds’ in agronomy are a source of vitamins and minerals for the farming families (Figueroa-Gomez, 2008). The study also revealed that women knew a lot more edible species than men. These local vegetables, some of them known exclusively by women, constitute an essential resource in times of scarcity. Through hosting a wide diversity of plant species and cultivars, home gardens are also crucial for the conservation of agrobiodiversity.

Home gardens are organised by the rules of the kitchen in order to have fresh and diverse food all year round. And here is where economy (the management of the household) and ecology (the knowledge of the household) converge. This is how female farmers from all over the world are contributing to safeguard the most important inheritance we may receive, one that is essential for agroecology, for future food and for nutritional security: cultural and biological diversity. Thanks mama!

Pablo Tittonell

Pablo Tittonell (www.pablotittonell.net) is coordinator of the National Program on Natural Resources and Environment of INTA in Argentina and Professor of the Farming Systems Ecology group at Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands. He is a board member of the African Conservation Tillage network and member of the Latin American Scientific Society on Agroecology (SOCLA).

This was the last column of Pablo Tittonell in 2015. We thank Pablo for his insightful and thoughtprovoking contributions throughout 2015 and we will continue to work together with Pablo in strengthening agroecology.

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The need to increase water availability for agriculture through the construction of dams, channels or costly irrigation systems has dominated the agenda of development agencies and donors for over 40 years. In the Sahel, for instance, water has always been assumed to be the most severe limiting factor to agricultural productivity, yet in-depth studies from the end of the 1990s already showed that most crops in the region are mainly limited by a lack of nutrients and not by water. But a huge dam is prestigious, visible, and often pays off in political terms.

I do not mean to imply that irrigation systems are not necessary. Indeed most of our civilisations, institutions, governance and political systems emerged in ancient irrigation areas. But there is not enough water to increase our irrigation footprint much further.

What are the alternatives? The amount of water stored in the top 60 cm of one hectare of healthy soil can be enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool. Why not work on increasing water capture and storage in the soil, instead of relying exclusively on irrigation?

Back to the Sahel. The local savannah vegetation growing on extremely sandy soils and receiving 300 to 400 mm of rain per year can produce up to 20 tonnes of biomass annually. A cropping field with millet and cowpeas under the same conditions produces only one tenth of that on average. A soil under natural vegetation can infiltrate 443 mm of rain water in one hour; it can literally ‘swallow’ a storm, while a cultivated soil can only infiltrate, at max, 30 mm per hour.

This has at least two implications. First, that nature has found a way to produce large amounts of biomass in extremely dry conditions; we should learn from this and use it when designing farming systems for dry areas. For example, keeping trees or shrubs in the system can contribute to reducing soil surface temperature – and thus evaporation – dramatically. Second, those cropping systems that produce only one tenth of the biomass compared to the savannah vegetation, will also contribute only one tenth of the carbon to the soil, leading to less soil organic matter and therefore much less capacity to capture and store water.

So there is a lot to gain from restoring the soil’s capacity to capture and store water. And, as with many agroecological solutions, there are also other benefits associated with better soil physical conditions. Amongst others, increased biological diversity, more efficient nutrient cycling, erosion control and even indeed, better use of irrigation water when available.

Pablo Tittonell

Pablo Tittonell is coordinator of the National Program on Natural Resources and Environment of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) in Argentina and Professor of the Farming Systems Ecology group at Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands. He is a board member of the African Conservation Tillage network and member of the Latin American Scientific Society on Agroecology (SOCLA). He is our regular columnist for 2015.

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Only recently I realised that when I was a child, my grandfather was practicing a form of urban agriculture in our backyard in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. But he didn’t see it as such. In his eyes, he was simply producing vegetables for the family, just as his father had done in the Piedmont of the Italian Alps before migrating to Argentina. Most people around us were doing the same thing too.

After all, our neighbourhood had been a green belt of commercial vegetable production only a few decades ago. During this transition, we lived in an open landscape with some relics of wilderness on the low productivity soils, marshes or river margins, and new signs of urbanisation – infrastructure, public transport, schools, parks and shops. I have to think about this mosaic every time I hear about projects for ‘new green cities’ in Europe, such as the projected green city of Almere, The Netherlands.

It also reminds me of other places. When I first visited Vihiga district in western Kenya, back in 2002, the population density was already incredibly high, with up to 1000 people living in every square kilometre. With the average family of about five cultivating less than half a hectare, about 60% of households earned part or most of their income from work outside the farm. Life would not have been possible without a fluid and strong rural–urban connectivity. Family members living in the cities would send money to their rural ’homes’. And especially in times of economic crises, rural families sent food to assist those in urban areas. Revisiting the area in 2012 we found a growing importance of rural–urban connectivity in the area, becoming even stronger with the spread of mobile phones. One example is the fantastic M-Farm initiative, connecting smallholders to urban markets using mobile phone technologies.

Smallholder farming in these peri-urban regions is being privately subsidised through cash remittances and off-farm activities. Which is logical. You can’t make a living from half a hectare of maize even if you get the best yields ever! The phenomenon of rural urban connectivity and interdependence is not only restricted to densely populated regions. For example, similar patterns exist in sparsely populated regions of rural Zimbabwe as described by Andersson.

Perhaps it is time to rethink the role of these farms that straddle the rural–urban continuum. Peri-urban farming is fading as a livelihood option, but not as a source of traditional and diverse food which is not always found on the market. The produce can buffer shocks in times of scarcity, contribute substantially to both rural and urban diets, provide ecosystem services and maintain agrobiodiversity.

This was true back in the 1970s in my grandfather’s garden and it is true for Vihiga today, and could become true in the future green cities of Europe. Perhaps it can be an alternative to the current research and development approach to food security, which continues to push the narrow idea that increasing yields of staple food crops is the primary solution.

Pablo Tittonell

Pablo Tittonell is Professor of the Farming Systems Ecology group at Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands. He is a board member of the African Conservation Tillage network and the European focal point of the Latin American Scientific Society on Agroecology (SOCLA). He is our regular columnist for 2015.
Email: pablo.tittonell@wur.nl

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The United Nations is bringing a welcome impetus to the call for sustainable soil management in the International Year of Soils (IYS). I see how the IYS presents opportunities, responsibilities and challenges. The world must use this chance to revisit concepts and methods used to guide agricultural science and soil management, and build on farmers’ empirical knowledge about soils.

Historically, soil scientists learnt from farmers’ knowledge to unravel the complex interplay between nature and farming (see for example the works of Jethro Tull on the effects of horse-hoeing on soil quality from 1733!). But soil management practices and technologies in modern industrial agriculture have upset this dialogue with assumptions that are often based on an oversimplified understanding of nature.

Let’s take the example of soil biology. In the past, it was common to hear experts say that nutrient release processes in the soil are the same in forests, pastures and agricultural fields where chemical fertilizers are applied. But everevolving science now shows us that this is not true. Today, we are able to map the DNA of soil microorganisms, and can identify the species present, how they relate to each other, and how they contribute to soil functions. In other words, we have found new ways to unravel and better understand the ecological networks in our soils, how they are affected by farm management, and how they impact the resilience of agroecosystems.

Understanding the complex interactions and synergies in the soil is essential in the science and practice of agroecology. Cutting-edge research shows that in organically managed soils, the interactions between species are more complex than in soils managed with chemical fertilizers or nutrientrich slurry. It shows that such complex interactions contribute to better retention and timely release of nutrients – and this builds healthier soils and reduces environmental impacts. Farmers are more than often very aware of the links between the life in their soils, crop yields, and the ability to sustain them – or, in scientific language: between soil biodiversity and resource efficiency. They adapt their practices following detailed observation over many years.

These links, long known to farmers, can now be understood in more detail through DNA mapping and other laboratory techniques. And as is commonly the case in recent history, advances in agricultural science are really just about research catching up with farmers’ knowledge. It is my hope that the International Year of Soils will foster a true dialogue of wisdoms, bringing farmer knowledge and scientific knowledge closer together again, to build better opportunities for sustainable soil management.

Pablo Tittonell

Pablo Tittonell is Professor of the Farming Systems Ecology group at Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands. He is a board member of the African Conservation Tillage network and the European focal point of the Latin American Scientific Society on Agroecology (SOCLA). Farming Matters is honoured to welcome Pablo Tittonell as its new regular columnist for 2015.
Email: pablo.tittonell@wur.nl

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